08 April, 2012

Despite of my current situation of the throat, I'm off to search for some hot, spicy foodstuff out there. Here it reads "乡府湘城", reflecting the delectable cuisine of 湘菜 ("Xiang Cai"), or more commonly known as Hunan Cuisine.

Chef Liu, who is from China, is specializing in cooking home-cooked Hunan dishes, and therefore the menu here features a mix of 70% Hunan Cuisine and 30% of Cantonese Cuisine.

Targeted for family, Xiang Fu Xiang Cheng Restaurant provides a cozy Chinese decorated dining are along with soothing warm tones. The ambiance here is really inviting, and most suits the mood of Chinese New Year (Will visit this place during festive season too!).

#1 Left: Homemade Groundnuts with Orange Caramel

Right: Marinated Seaweed

Upon ordering, the friendly local waitresses serve us with some light bites, while waiting for our food to be prepared. The ground nuts here are especially crunchy, caramelized with orange flavour and richened with sesame.

#2 Century Egg in Sauce (凉拌皮蛋) @ RM15

Let's start off the meal with the cold dish of the day, century egg dipped in sour and spicy sauce. This homemade sauce mainly consists of vinegar, soy sauce and peppercorn. The spiciness here is still acceptable, but it serves a good starter to tantalize the taste buds.

#3 Slapped Cucumber (拍黄瓜) @ RM15

Considering the name of the dish, this platter of cucumber is slapped after being cut to enhance its juicy taste. Greatly seasoned with peppercorns, the cucumber is spicy but cooling in taste.

#4 Main
Royal Claypot Chicken (皇牌鸡煲) @ RM56

The first main dish is the spicy chicken pot, mainly made of red chilli and tender chicken meat. Surprisingly, this dish can be adjusted into a non-spicy one, to meet the demand of most family diners. In contrast, you can choose 4 types of spiciness, depending your tolerance towards the fiery hot taste:

According to the owner, this is the most popular dish among families and even parents are surprised that their kids love it so much! Seasoned with large amount of pepper, the soup is really warming to my weak stomach, along with a good portion of herbs and spices.

#6 Chopped Chilli Red Tilapia (剁椒金凤鱼) @ RM35

Just from the picture, you can sense the hotness from the chopped red chilli topping of the fish. I'm impressed with this Hunan signature dish, in which the fish is so well-cooked with the special sauce that retains the freshness of the flesh.

Another chef's specialty is served piping hot from the kitchen, and I can smell its goodness from far. The spiciness here is a little special as it goes along well with the aromatic minced garlic. Munching through the crispy skin, I manage to taste the fresh, flaky flesh which is so originally-flavoured.

#8 Fragrant Spicy BBQ Prawns (香辣串烧虾) @ RM25

Well, I would name this as Prawn Satay as the prawns are barbecued until aromatic on the satay sticks. This dish doesn't need further explanation from me, as you can see the abundance of fiery red chillis with the red chilli oil. The spiciness is very well-absorbed into the flesh of the prawns; it's surely good to warm you up.

#9 Mou’s Pork Braised in Brown Sauce (毛家红烧肉) @ RM25

Here's another great dish to go, with the right balance of sweetness. I'm not a porky person, but I enjoy this braised dish because each cube of pork meat is soft and juicy with the thick brown sauce.

#10 Thousand Page To Fu (黄焖千页豆腐) @ RM25

A whole platter of Hunan Thousand Page Bean Curd is good to neutralise my tongue after a series of spicy food. However, it may look mild, but it definitely comes with a hint of spiciness which makes this dish healthy with special flavour. Not to mention the beancurd slices are specially produced in China and freshly imported to Malaysia.

#11 Aromatic Stir-Fried Spicy Chicken (飘香辣子鸡) @ RM22

Complementing its name, the chicken cutlets are very aromatic and highly spiced with dried chillies. As spicy as it looks, however it is very addictive after each bite of crispiness with the juicy meat.

#12 Stir Fried String Beans (干煸四季豆) @ RM15

The next main course goes milder in taste, and it's good to give my throat a break. Served hot from the kitchen, I can sense the goodness of the greens accompanied with generous amount of sesame.

#13 Maltose Sweet Potato (发丝地瓜) @ RM15

Here's the signature dessert of the restaurant. If you want to try authentic Hunan cuisine, then this dessert mustn't be a miss! The maltose coating of the potato stick is very sticky, with its taste enhanced by the special ingredient here--- Orange peel! Surprisingly, it's not overly sweet, and tastes refreshing as well!

Dip each stick into iced water so that the maltose coating will harden on the surface of the potato stick. Under the cold, crispy sweetened skin, I find the sweet potato very soft and warm inside.

#14 Deep Fried Pumpkin Cake (南瓜饼) @ RM15

To perfect the duet desserts, the pumpkin cake is served crispy hot. Well, perhaps I might be wrong but I can only taste the filling as a non-sweetened version of Chinese sticky rice cake ("Nian Gao") here!

#15 Lo Han Guo @ RM3

Lastly, to complement with a good range of hot and spicy Hunan cuisine, I opt for some cooling herbal drinks to reduce the heat from the dishes. After the satisfying dining experience, my voicebox and throat remain healthy, indicating that I can go from "Mild" to "Moderate" during my next visit!

Verdict:

1. Out of 9 main dishes, all of them are delightful for me, despite of my low tolerance towards the hot and spicy cuisine.

2. In overall, the average price for fishes is around RM25-38 per dish, meat RM20-30 and vegetables ranging from RM15-25; Very fairly priced, considering the marvellous Hunan taste!

3. Revisit? Yes, Hunan Cuisine is definitely a better alternative over Szechuan Cuisine which numbs my tongue with its spiciness.

Pretty amazing Hunan dishes esp the peanuts with orange caramel and also how the century eggs were served. I must say these are really unique and different as well. Spicy flavors inside - I am all the way for it because I must have my daily dose of spicy taste.

Cool! I was just thinking today morning that I should get to learn more chinese dishes. The problem is I realy am badly educated about chinese culture and food. Looking at your dish I better start soon cause the food from this restaurant looks amazing! thanks for sharing!!

Drool... I'm holding my laptop and the delicious pictures are all over my screen! YUMMY! I still have several hours before dinner time. Love eating Chinese food with lots of friends - get to eat many kinds of dishes in one dinner!